12 March 2022, Mumbai:
Reliance Retail has launched a new retail store brand, Smart Bazaar, for the locations where the Future Group’s Big Bazaar outlets used to operate, two industry executives said.
The retail unit of Reliance Industries is working on opening its own stores in around 950 properties it had sub-leased to the Future Group but took possession back citing non-payment of rent.
It plans to open at least a hundred stores in these locations, including a few Smart Bazaar stores, this month itself, the executives said.
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Smart Bazaar will have a bigger focus on everyday apparel and general merchandise than Reliance Retail's existing Smart supermarkets, modelling them on the lines of Big Bazaar so that consumers can feel connected, the executives said.
In properties that housed Future Group's larger stores like Central - each spread over 60,000 square feet and going even up to 100,000 sq ft - Reliance is contemplating its existing formats like Reliance Mall which includes all the formats in a smaller way, or a mix of two-three formats including a departmental store which is yet to make its debut in its portfolio.
Alternatively, the Future Group has given a proposal to Reliance to operate the Central format as a franchise of the Future Group, so that the brand name remains and since each Central has 80-100 independent brands operating as shop-in-shops by paying a fee.
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